“A lot of big data research is done in an isolated, one-shot, single-method manner with no way to assess, interpret or contextualize the findings,” she said. “There is great potential for error and misunderstanding; worse, with a lot of money flowing into this space, there is a lot pressure to produce “results” and overlook the fact that methods that were not developed to study humans, and do not necessarily work the same way, but are being applied widely.